M274A4 Driving Again

M274 Mechanical Mule Knowledge Base
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RBW
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M274A4 Driving Again

Post by RBW » Mon Jan 03, 2022 6:37 am

Thanks for the help on the forum, particularly to Chuck W., who has been very helpful and responsive to my questions. Also, I can't say enough good about John Emery's business, his willingness to help, and the quality of his work.

This M274A4 belonged to a neighbor of mine and he just happened to bring it up in a conversation several months ago. He had obtained it some years ago but hadn't gotten started on it yet, aside from acquiring a seat and some parts (for which I am very thankful). Looked like it had been driven through a mixture of concrete and mud, never washed, and left outside for 30 years. I actually think the "concrete" was a very thick, heavily oxidized layer of sort-of-OD paint that had been slapped on decades ago. It rolled and shifted, but didn't run, steer, or brake.

A hot tank pressure washer was extremely helpful in removing enough of the caked on mud, grease, and spider webs to get started (I did all the fluids and CV joints immediately afterward). Deck has several sections oxidized to about the texture of 60-grit sandpaper, a few holes corroded through, and is notched for VW started that has not been reclocked, unfortunately, but is solid enough for my purposes. As you can see, it is of course missing the cover to lock out the rear steering as well as the rifle mount cover.

Most of the work was sourcing the missing parts, making gaskets, getting every fastener unstuck from ever other fastener, freeing up the hub nuts and tie down loops, patching about 20 holes in the fuel tank with a combination of weld and silver solder, rebuilding the steering gear, replacing 6 of the 10 tie rod ends, replacing the oil seal the keeps transmission oil in the right side of the rear bevel gear housing (now need to do the left), building the brake and clutch pedals, installing an alternator, and building a battery and tool box mount for the right side of the bed. The battery is a 22NF top post used in utility tractors, about $80, so not quite a lawn tractor battery, but smaller than a car battery and fits neatly in a "tall 50" ammo can with enough clearance for the top posts and enough room at the sides to route cables. I vented the can so it won't explode. The can hinges about 30 degrees downward from the bracket, and detaches by sliding it outboard from the hinge pins on its lid. The tool box is a 40mm grenade launcher ammo can. The bracket is made of steel angle and tube, and uses all existing holes in the frame tube to platform brackets and the side rail mounting points.

Next steps are to fix the leak into the bellhousing, see if I can quiet the transmission down a bit (I'm sure it needs at least some new bearings), replace lifters, new clutch cable, source or build the missing deck covers, fabricate new forward sections for the side rails, and build an engine guard and rear deck channel. Also going to have to wait until Coker does another production run of tires, as I think these are oval shaped and you can almost see daylight through them (they're only 53 years old). Also, it has three Goodyears and one Denman, and they are slightly different diameters, so the machine pulls to one side even though I have the alignment set up decently. That's about it for now. Thanks for reading.
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Chuck W.
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Re: M274A4 Driving Again

Post by Chuck W. » Mon Jan 03, 2022 10:52 am

Glad to hear your project is moving along, sounds about typical mule! Good luck!

Here's what poor Eeyore looked like when I hauled him home.
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The plan was to break it up for parts, but actually turned out to be in pretty good shape and complete, so I put it back together.
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ltsimp
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Re: M274A4 Driving Again

Post by ltsimp » Tue Jan 04, 2022 5:20 am

Good job! Your coming along nicely with it!


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